Macworld Forums: LaunchBar 5.0.2 - Macworld Forums

Post your comments for LaunchBar 5.0.2 here

This is a fantastic piece of software, indispensable. A Mac without LaunchBar is just crippled.

Please forgive my ignorance, but . . . . How is this different from launching stuff from my dock, or opening documents from their folders? Seems like at least one extra step, if not more.
Thanks.

Quicksilver is as good.... and FREE.

Pemvapor, on 11 May 2010 - 05:20 PM, said:

It's a lot faster for most people to use the keyboard shortcut to bring up LaunchBar (or Quicksilver or Alfred) and type in part of the name of the application or file and hit enter than to use the mouse to navigate to the application or document.

Sorry folks, I really, really cannot see the point of this.

Stewsburntmonkey says "It's a lot faster for most people to use the keyboard shortcut to bring up LaunchBar (or Quicksilver or Alfred) and type in part of the name of the application or file and hit enter than to" ...single click the icon in the dock. Sure about that, Monkey?

The Finder does everything just as well and more easily (note the reference to complexity in the review). Take the multiple clipboard for example; the Finder's way of doing it is to drag the highlighted text to the desktop as a clipping, then drag it to your document later. Does anyone really believe that Launchbar's method is better?

Face it, it's a pathetic attempt to improve on the Finder that fails miserably.

Gradivus, on 17 May 2010 - 09:15 AM, said:

Quite sure. Mouse input is actually pretty slow, especially to people who operate primarily from the keyboard, reaching over the mouse takes a good deal of time. Also many people use many more applications than they can easily fit in the dock (and too many icons in the dock makes it take longer to find the one you need), so simply hitting a key shortcut typing "photos" or even just "p" to launch Photoshop can be a lot faster than trying to launch Photoshop using the mouse.

But the great thing about these applications is that they are totally optional. You don't need to get it for them to be very useful to a lot of us.

Someone who is well versed in keyboard navigation can go far beyond what can be done with the mouse. Now, keyboard navigation is much more complex and can have a huge learning curve, but the result are quite real (as anyone who has seen a command-line wizard work can attest). That said, it is clearly not for everyone (in fact it is exactly the wrong thing for the vast majority of people). Mouse input is easy and well suited to most people's needs, which is why it is the default.

Gradivus, on 17 May 2010 - 09:15 AM, said:

I'm trying to understand why this idea seems to offend you so much? Why the need to rush to the defense of the Finder? Why does it bother you that others find an alternative method of navigation preferable and better suited to their usage?

This post has been edited by Stewsburntmonkey: 17 May 2010 - 09:29 AM

Why would this be better than Command+Space "Chro" and Enter/Return for Google Chrome for instance? Other than saving two or three keystrokes that is? My guess is I don't use enough different apps/tools to make it worthwhile.

Is there a good source or forum comparing the OSX included Spotlight to this paid LaunchBar, and maybe compare to Quick Silver and Butler?

I find using Spotlight to be very quick. One or two letters and the app. or doc. I'm looking for comes up.

Gradivus, on 17 May 2010 - 09:15 AM, said:

This is ridiculous. There is no dragging, moving windows, pasting content and deleting files involved as described by you, just a few simple keystrokes and a fast way to navigate your clipboard's items. Show me a desktop where 30 clippings are stored and the users still overviews them!

igamogam, on 11 May 2010 - 06:37 AM, said:

QuickSilver is easily as customizable, and free.

DJRumpy, on 06 January 2011 - 05:41 AM, said:

And abandoned and unsupported.

No it's not:
http://qsapp.com/
http://lovequicksilver.com/